Parting Gift
by Fleeting Eternity
Summary: You know what they say: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Deidara never knew how deeply he really cared for his master until seeing him on the brink of death. Who knew that more than anything, words could heal a broken soul. SasoDei. Oneshot.


Sasori lie on his side alone, squinting his eyes at the mid-day sun, swords penetrating through the only human organ left in his puppet body—the heart. Breathing heavily and holding on to his last few moments of life, he tried to recollect everything that had just happened to him. Sasori quickly discovered that his overconfident attitude came as both a blessing and a curse…he had never expected to die…not so soon, at the very least. One minute he's simply trying to ward off some bothersome enemies that should just take a few minutes to eliminate, and the next thing he knows he's half-dead, lying alone in an abandoned canyon somewhere near the Sand Village.

Sasori slowly opened an eyelid as a shadow moved over his body, the sudden cooling sensation causing him to shiver for a moment. He carefully tilted his head to the sky, gritting his teeth in pain, and saw none other than a familiar large, white bird hovering above him. Sasori sighed, almost annoyed, and turned his head to lie back down on the hard ground. _Can't that brat just allow me to enjoy my last few minutes alive in peace? I'll be dead and blondie will still manage to be right behind me somehow…._

Deidara jumped off his bird straight into the canyon without any hesitation. Despite recently having his arms blown off, he still managed to stick a perfect landing a few yards away from Sasori, looking up at his master with a face plastered with the perfect mix of sweat and fear.

"S-Sasori-danna...?" Deidara managed to choke out, completely surprised to see Sasori in such a state of weakness. The blonde sprinted to his partner, kneeled at his side, and stared him straight in the eyes—that was the most Deidara could manage at the moment. So much had happened that day, but his master never came out from battle with nothing more than a mere scratch to show off; seeing him so near-death almost made Deidara second guess whether or not he was dreaming.

"Looks like you finally got here, brat. It's about time," Sasori said with his usual sarcasm, adding in his customary signature smirk.

Deidara's eyes skimmed up and down Sasori's body, attempting to analyze all the damage that had been done, but he still couldn't make sense of it all. "Danna…what…what _happened _to you, un?"

Sasori shook his head with a look of disgust, that cynical tone once again rising as he spoke. "There are swords through my heart, baka, what do you _think _happened?"

"Quit joking around, Sasori-danna! And quit playing dumb, you know damn well what I meant, un!"

Sasori drew a quick breath before leaning his head back to look at the sky. It was unnaturally sunny that day, an ironic time for someone to die so horribly. If anything, the redhead puppeteer had secretly hoped that he would die on a day when the weather was cloudy or rainy, as if the atmosphere would be paying their respects to his death. Finally swallowing his pride, Sasori answered, "I was…defeated by my idiot grandmother…and that pink-haired bitch she carries along to help her…."

Despite the severity of the situation, Deidara had to muster a laugh. "Sasori-danna…you…defeated by…_them_? _You? _Are you sure?"

"Shut your hole! Have enough respect not to question your master, will you?!" Sasori yelled back with all the remaining strength left in his body.

His brain once again returning to the matter at hand, Deidara's face softened, his heart working hard to process through all the emotions congesting his system. He blinked back a tear that narrowly escaped from his eye, then gasped at his own weak point. Deidara couldn't remember the last time he cried…it must have been years…. As an Akatsuki member, you soon learn that crying equals weakness, and weakness equals a huge kick in the ass from your fellow coworkers. Hiding his emotions had almost become second nature, so for someone to finally break Deidara's emotionless shell was really something to marvel at.

"Hey," Sasori said harshly, looking at his partner with a stern expression.

"Yes? W-what is it, un?" Deidara replied shakily.

"What the hell are you crying for? You don't see me crying, do you? And I've got two swords pierced through my heart for God's sake."

"Well I just got my arms blown off, and that's pretty painful if I do say so myself, un." Deidara smiled lightly, he couldn't help it. Sasori-danna rarely showed his sweet side, and when he did, it was hard to detect—the words still came out as sardonic as anything did when he opened his mouth, but you could tell from the way he articulated his speech that the statement was meant to be comforting. Sometimes Sasori would add in a laugh or a slight smile to help get the point across, but that's about as close as you got to "caring" or "comforting" with him.

Deidara looked deep into Sasori's glassy eyes, challenging himself not to show any further signs of sadness or grief. "When you're gone…what…what am I supposed to do, un? I…I've truly never felt so lost before in my entire life…"

"Deidara, you may be ignorant and one to act before thinking, but you've got a brain, kid. Use it." Sasori spoke quietly as he felt his life slowly slipping away, as if a pair of hands had just reached deep into his chest and were leisurely pulling the soul right out of him, making sure its victim gets a taste of what it feels like to fade, to be taken up from this earth.

"I…I don't quite understand…"

"You don't understand?" Sasori asked, his voice steadily decreasing in volume as his life drifts away. "Hmm…maybe you're not as smart as I perceived you to be. In that case, I take my complement back." He looked up at the blonde and gave him a tender smile, the only real smile that had escaped his lips in years.

His eyes now flooded with tears, Deidara leaned forward and held Sasori's face in the remaining part of his arms, trying to provide some comfort for himself as well as his master. "Danna…I…I'm going to miss you so much, un…"

"Yeah…and I guess I'll miss not having you around to annoy me anymore. What a pity…I was just starting to get used to it. Oh well."

Deidara's heart jumped, once again failing to get a firm grip on his emotions. His mind was so confused…nothing in reality really made sense anymore. Hands shaking and eyes burning from tears, Deidara did something that he never in a million years would've dreamed of doing—he suddenly pulled Sasori's lips to his own, kissing him lovingly for a few seconds, the rules of what was and wasn't acceptable escaping his mind.

Sasori's eyes immediately widened at the sudden gesture. Shocked into silence, Sasori kissed his partner back, barely aware of what the hell he was doing. His brain had turned to pure instinct mode, and at the moment, this is what "pure instinct" had bestowed upon him.

Deidara pulled away after a minute, an alarmed expression crossing his face. "Sasori…I…I don't know wha—"

Sasori cut his follower off early, slapping him playfully across the face. "What the HELL was that?!"

"…Think of it as…my parting gift to you before you move on."

"Who said I wanted it?"

Deidara frowned, his face turning a bright shade of red.

"Then again…" Sasori teased, "who said I _didn't _want it?"

Deidara turned around, trying to hide his face that was burning an even brighter shade of red than before. "Just…promise you won't forget me, un…"

"Yeah yeah, I won't."

"And thank you for everything…you were almost like a father figure for me these past few years, you know…. I mean, I really love you for that…"

But by the time Deidara got the courage to speak those last few words out loud, he turned around to find that Sasori was already dead, a vacant look glazed across his eyes. Further down his face, Deidara spotted the one thing that made Sasori's death a little easier to handle…a smile.


End file.
